[Epidemiological aspects of obesity in the workplace in Pointe-Noire, Congo-Brazzaville].

Objective: To describe the epidemiological aspects of obesity in the workplace.

Methodology: This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted between February and November 2017 in an oil company. The data were collected from the activity reports of its occupational medicine department.

Results: Of the 625 subjects in the study, there were 528 (85%) men and 97 (15%) women, for a sex ratio (M/F) of 5.4. The mean age was 38.8±9.3 years. The socio-economic level was very high and the "master's" degrees were the most represented (58.1%). The incidence of obesity was 21.1% (132 workers) with 72.7% of subjects in moderate obesity. There were 104 (78.8%) obese men and 28 (21.2%) obese women. The following were significantly associated with obesity: female sex (p=0.042), meal frequency (p=0.000), snacking (p=0.000), physical inactivity (p=0.000), place of work (p=0.00028) and work stress (p=0.000). Diabetes (p=0.00023) and hypertension (p=0.00117) were significantly associated with obesity. On the other hand, no significant association was found with meal location, addictions (alcohol and tobacco), work rhythm, sedentary work habits and hypercholesterolemia.

Conclusion: Our study shows the extent of obesity, which is a real health problem, so far little known in the Congolese professional environment. This underlines the need to design a good obesity prevention strategy in this relatively young productive population.